Celebrity Speakers

Attendees of the Cornwall Business Awards annual dinner have enjoyed the company of millionaire business celebrities including:

Karren Brady

Karren Brady will be the celebrity speaker at the Cornwall Business Awards 2010. Karren is one of the UK's Leading Business Women and Vice Chairman at West Ham United FC. Karren was formerly the Managing Director of Birmingham City FC for 16 years during a time of great change. She is currently working with Alan Sugar on the next series of the BBC TV Show The Apprentice. She sits on the Boards of Channel 4 and Mothercare. Her weekly column in the Guardian newspaper covers employee issues in the workplace and she is a Government spokesperson for "Women in Work". Karren has been named by Cosmopolitan among its "100 most powerful women in the world".

Karren has attracted much media attention and was the subject of an hour long documentary Inside Story - The Real Life Manageress shown on BBC1. She has also hosted her own TV show, Brady Bunch and presented both Loose Women and Live Talk on ITV, and also presented Central Weekend Live.

Gerald Ratner

Gerald Ratner was the celebrity speaker at the Cornwall Business Awards in 2009. Gerald was the millionaire chief executive of the British jewellery chain Ratners Jewellery, which he built into the world's largest jewellery retailer business consisting of 2500 shops, making £125 million, with a turnover £2 billion. After some uncomplimentary remarks Gerald made at the Institute of Directors regarding product quality, the company suffered financial losses, and was renamed Signet Group in 1993. After Ratners, Gerald focused on the leisure industry, opening a successful gym in Henley-on-Thames which he later sold for an impressive profit. This gave him the opportunity to re-launch his career in the jewellery sector with his own on-line jewellery company Gerald Online 2004. As current CEO, Gerald is once again returning to the fore front of Britain's jewellery trade and is proving that well known brands can recover from just about anything.

Simon Woodroffe

Simon Woodroffe was the guest speaker at the 2008 Cornwall Business Awards. Simon left school at 16 and spent almost 30 years in the entertainment business. Through the 1970s and 80s his production companies, based in London and Los Angeles, designed rock 'n' roll stages for artists like Rod Stewart, The Moody Blues and Stevie Wonder and events like Live Aid. Simon founded YO! SUSHI in 1997. YO! Sushi is an example of what can be achieved through a combination of belief in what you're doing, and doing something that turns accepted ideas upside down to create an unforgettable customer experience. YO! Company now includes: YO! Sushi, YOTEL (hotels); RadiYO!, YO! HOW; YO! ZONE, the spa; YO! HOME; YO! In July 2006 Simon was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in recognition of his outstanding business career.

Michelle Mone

Michelle Mone attended the 2007 Cornwall Business Awards. Michelle Mone is the co-owner of MJM International and the creator of Ultimo, the UK's leading designer lingerie brand. Listed as one of the top 3 female entrepreneurs in the UK, Michelle has built a hugely successful career on an incredibly simple concept: giving today's women what they want. Since launching, Ultimo has established a huge profile and loyal customer base within the UK and contracts with a string of stunning, high-profile models and celebrities. In addition to its jointly owned brands, MJM International Ltd currently supply Debenhams, Selfridges, Next and Figleaves along with a number of independent lingerie stores.

Doug Richard

Doug Richard was the celebrity speaker in 2006. Doug is a successful entrepreneur with 20 years' experience in the development and leadership of technology and software ventures, both in the US and in the UK. Having appeared in the first and second series of Dragons' Den, Doug is the Founder of School for Startups, Chairman and CEO of Trutap, Founder and member of the Cambridge Angels, Chairman of the Conservative Party Small Business Task Force and non-executive director of AlertMe, and BeatsDigital. Between 1996 and 2000 he was President and CEO of Micrografx, a US publicly quoted software company. Prior to that he also founded and subsequently sold two other companies: Visual Software and ITAL Computers. Doug holds a BA in Psychology from University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctor at the school of Law, University of California at Los Angeles. In 2006, Doug was an Honorary Recipient of The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion.